No PCAHA Bantam Zone Teams for 2017-2018

After months of speculation, it’s now official, there will be no Bantam Zone teams in the PCAHA – at least for 2017-2018.

In a letter addressed to MHA presidents yesterday, PCAHA president, Lynne Kiang, reported the results of the second vote on the matter.

Two options were on the ballot. The first proposed implementing the Zone structure this coming fall, for the 2017-2018 season. The second option proposed deferring the decision, pending further study, and consider it again for the 2018-2019 season.

Results were 11 in favor of option one, 24 in favor of option 2, with 7 abstentions and one no response.

The Zone concept has been already been implemented in the Okanagan, and the North, and two Zone teams will be competing in this year’s Provincials, with the opportunity to proceed to the Western Championships.

Here’s the full text of Ms. Kiang’s letter, sent March 9, 2017:

Dear Association Presidents,

The results of the second vote on zone hockey are as follows:[11] Option A – Support the formation of Bantam Zone teams to be implemented in the 2017-18 season with the following structure: Tier 1 teams forming Flight 1 of PCAHA competition and would be eligible to compete at BC Hockey Provincial Championships and Bantam Western Championships. This would mean that these zone teams would compete against the A1 teams formed by the Tier 1 Associations for right to attend the BC Hockey Provincial Championships. This model is consistent with the current pilot project being run in the Okanagan.[24] Option B – Defer the decision until the 2018-19 season and instead have a committee develop a full proposal to be voted on by the Associations once complete. This would mean that there would be no change to structure of Bantam A team formation within PCAHA for 2017-18 (at present there are 17 Tier 1 Associations in PCAHA).
There were also 7 abstentions and 1 association did not respond.

This means that PCAHA will not implement zone hockey for the 2017-18 season, but will review this again in time for the 2018-19 season.

As it is important for the PCAHA proposal to meet the BC Hockey pilot project parameters, I am discussing with BC Hockey the potential to work with PCAHA to establish and participate in a committee to develop a full proposal for the 2018-19 season. I hope to call for interested volunteers for this committee in early April.

I would like to thank the PCAHA Zone Committee members, Tom Oberti (Chair), Harbs Bains, David Beaupre, Rob Blankstein, Chantal Cotton, Carolyn Hart, Steve Legge, Jeremy Mann, James Nedila, Dave Newson, Ted Ritter, Brenda Rowe and Lawrence Smyth for their work on this program to date.